Electrical conduit, including rigid conduit and electrical metal tubing (EMT), is frequently used for installing electrical cables in buildings. As the conduit is routed throughout a structure, various junction boxes, or conduit bodies as they are frequently termed, are required to be installed to permit routing electrical cables to their various loads and destinations. A system of nomenclature has been developed in the electrical industry to describe the various conduit body configurations. Each configuration includes a one or two letter designation, which is determined by the location of the conduit outlet locations on the conduit body. The conduit outlets can typically be located on the bottom, sides, or ends of the conduit body. As an example of this nomenclature, a conduit body having a conduit outlet on the bottom and another on the end, a bottom to end configuration, is commonly designated an “LB” conduit body. Other conduit bodies include a “C” conduit body for an end to end configuration, a “T” conduit body for a middle and two end configuration, and “LL” and “LR” conduit bodies for side to end configurations.
Conventional conduit bodies are therefore typically provided in several standard arrangements in an attempt to fulfill all the possible configurations that will be needed at the job site. Unfortunately, this requires electrical manufacturers to stock at least six different junction boxes to meet the anticipated applications in the field. A manufacturer would therefore typically stock at least five separate conduit bodies, including types LB, C, T, LL, and LR. Since there are at least six different trade sizes of rigid conduit and EMT, a manufacturer or a supplier of conduit bodies is required to stock about 30 separate rigid conduit bodies. Electricians must therefore carry a large number of separate conduit bodies to the job site in order to be prepared to wire the building.
U.S. patent application Ser. Nos. 11/264,484 and 11/393,202 disclosed conduit body assemblies that were reconfigurable in the field, thereby eliminating the need for conduit bodies having separate configurations. This enabled an installer to carry one assembly for each trade size to meet all possible anticipated conduit body configurations.
Although the aforementioned conduit body assemblies reduced stocking requirements and improved installer efficiency in the field, still further improvements are needed to simplify the installation of conduit bodies for rigid conduit or EMT.